The Floacist

Natalie “The Floacist” Stewart (born February 13, 1979) is an English singer-songwriter, poet, and actress. Born and raised in London, she performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child, and rose to fame in the early 2000s as part of R&B girl-duo Floetry. Their hiatus saw the release of Stewart’s debut album, Floetic Soul (2010), which established her as a solo artist worldwide; which featured the singles "Forever" and "Let Me".

Following her establishment of her solo career, she released her second solo album, Floetry Re:Birth (2012), which contained hits "Say Yes", "Soul", and "Speechless". In 2014, Stewart released her third solo album Rise of the Phoenix Mermaid.

A self-described "modern-day poet", The Floacist creates songs that are often characterized by themes of love, relationships, and inspiration, as well as problems and solutions. Throughout a career spanning 16 years, she has sold over 2 million records.

Early life

The Floacist is the daughter of Jamaican immigrants. With her father in the British Armed Forces, she was born into a travelling family. The youngest of three children, she was born in Germany, started school in Hong Kong. After her father left the army, the family settled in London.^[1] She attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, where Marsha Ambrosius was studying Business and Finance. The Floacist studied Performing Arts, Media and Art. She attended Middlesex University, and later transferred to the University of North London. She was a founding member of the performance poetry group 3 Plus 1, which was critically well received in London, Birmingham, and Manchester. The Floacist found her true calling on the performance poetry scene, where she was able to natural merge all of her artistic expressional outputs as a writer and performer. This led to the manifestation of her Floetic ethos of 'poetic delivery of musical intent'.

Floetry was formed after Ambrosius joined her on stage in 1999 to perform at a spoken word night called Poets vs MC's, where they debuted a piece that they had written together called "Fantasize", combining spoken word and singing.

2000–2006: Floetry

In 2000, the duo traveled to the United States to perform on the poetry circuit. After frequenting spoken word/poetry spots in Atlanta, such as Yin Yang Poets' Cafe, they moved on to Philadelphia. There they met Darren "Limitless" Henson and Keith "Keshon" Pelzer of DJ Jazzy Jeff's Touch of Jazz studio and began recording.

In 2002, they signed with DreamWorks Records and released their debut album Floetic, which featured the singles "Floetic", "Say Yes" and "Getting Late". The album was also released in the UK with additional tracks, one of which featured the British singer-songwriter and record producer, Sebastian Rogers. Due to the success of Floetry's live show, Floacism, a live album/DVD was released in November 2003

In 2005, Floetry released Flo'Ology, their second studio album. It debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200, and included the single "SupaStar" featuring rapper Common.

Solo

In 2006 the duo parted ways, and The Floacist returned home to London but still moved back and forth between the UK and The United States. During the next four years she focused on her craft and continued to explore her Floetic ethos of poetic delivery with musical intent.^[2]

In mid-2010, she released the EP "Spoken Soul". In November 2010, she released her first solo album, Floetic Soul on Shanachie Records. The album charted at number 95 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart and number 20 on the Top R&B Albums chart.^[3] The album also spawned the singles "Forever", "Let Me", and "Keep It Going". In 2011, The Floacist began recording her second album. In August 2012, she released a new version of the Floetry hit "Say Yes". In November 2012 she released her second album "The Floacist presents Floetry Re:Birth" and has stated that its title and theme represent a celebration of the tenth anniversary of Floetry's breakthrough as a recording act.^[4] Her third solo album, 'RISE of the Phoenix Mermaid' was released in March 2014, with the lead single 'Feel Good'.

Personal life

The Floacist is known to speak of the ultimate focus of her life being the continual development, evolution and growth of her person; spiritually, mentally and artistically.^[2] When asked about her spiritual practices she simply responds that her spiritual practice is memory; remembering the peace before the confusion!^[1]

Discography

• See also: Floetry

Albums

EPs

Singles

Filmography

• 2004: One on One (as herself)
• 2008: Reasonable Excuse (as Laila)
• 2010: Remaindered (as the Background Performer)
• 2010: The Creepy Doll (as the Waiting Room Patient #2)
• 2012: Spirit Stalkers (as the Restaurant Patron)

References

External links

• Official website
• The Floacist on IMDb
• The Floacist at AllMusic